Orange Line On Time: 2 New MBTA Trains Off The Assembly Line

BOSTON MA — Christmas has come early to the Orange Line. Engineers and the pilot car for the Orange Line are entering the final testing phase, marked by a spin on the actual Orange Line tracks earlier this week. And then the first two new cars manufactured in the state were rolled out of the factory in a ceremony Tuesday and handed over to the MBTA, marking yet another step forward for the future of the line.

“Since taking office, our Administration has prioritized improving the core infrastructure of the T and over the next five years, the T is planning to invest $8 billion to continue these efforts,” said Gov. Charlie Baker at the ceremony. “By completely replacing the fleets of the Orange and Red lines, and significantly upgrading signals, the T will improve reliability for riders, and we are proud to celebrate the delivery of the first new Orange Line cars today.”

The first of more than 150 new Orange Line cars is expected to start picking up passengers early next year, replacing trains nearly four decades old that slog between Malden and Jamaica Plain daily, according to MBTA officials.

Meanwhile, the CRRC MA factory in Springfield, which employs about 200 people, is busy putting together 404 subway cars for the MBTA, including 152 new Orange Line and 252 Red Line cars.

The new Orange Line cars are made by China Railroad Rolling Stock Corp and sent to the Springfield factory where workers there assemble and test the cars for the Orange and Red lines.

Each cars cost about $2.43 million.

“We’re pleased that this milestone has been reached for these new subway cars,” said MassDOT Secretary Pollack. “A major focus to improve service has been to accelerate the pace of spending on the core infrastructure and our spending will be continuing at an aggressive pace."

The Baker-Polito Administration plans to spend $8 billion during the next five fiscal years which began this past July, most of it on state-of-good-repair and reliability-improvement projects.

Features include stainless steel car shells that incorporate laser-welding technology for better exterior finish, crash energy management for enhanced customer and operator safety, LCD monitors for customer information, and train to wayside communications via a wireless network for monitoring and detection of potential maintenance needs.

“While we acknowledge we still have a ways to go before our fleets are completely replaced, today marks the start of that process that will lead to major improvements for our customers," said Interim General Manager Jeffrey Gonneville.

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Previously on Patch:

• New Orange Line Train Testing Underway: Next Stop
• Green Line Cars To Get A Futuristic Redesign: MBTA (May 7, 2018)
• New Orange Line Trains Arrive, Testing To Begin ( Dec. 20, 2017)
• Winter Is Coming, And So Are The New Orange Line Trains (Oct 10, 2017)
• Orange Line Mockup Debuts at Boston City Hall (April 3, 2017)

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Photos courtesy MBTA